


Dark horses

by CrazyChicken



Category: Football RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-25
Updated: 2013-02-25
Packaged: 2017-12-03 14:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyChicken/pseuds/CrazyChicken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"A dark horse is someone who wins a competition, despite not being expected to win."</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Marco takes Mario to the stables and Mario is terrified.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark horses

**Author's Note:**

> They say 'write what you know' and this came out. I know horses and the magic of their beauty, although I'm not sure about this piece of shit. Anyway, this is crazy and fluff and I don't mean to hate Melanie. Definition of a dark horse found [here](http://wowhorses.com/horse-sayings.html).
> 
> Also, I'd like to dedicate this to Felix, who may never be in my life again, but who will always be in my heart.

The air smelled like farm. Like dung and straw and animals and Mario’s first thought was ‘I need to get out of here’. He didn’t get the time to escape, because Marco took him by his arm and pulled him along.

“What are we even doing here?” he asked, fixing his feet on the ground, but Marco proved stronger than he seemed.

“You’re going to ride a horse today.” Marco smiled like crazy, looking over his shoulder to the other guy, whose eyes had now grown the size of the moon. In one moment, he was to startled to protest and Marco used this moment to drag him along a few meters.

Marco had told Mario he had a great surprise for him to get him into his car and on the road he had told Mario they were headed towards his sister’s riding school. That was when he started complaining (and panicking, although he would not admit it), but Marco had been insistent. Mario didn’t like horses, because they were big and noisy and honestly, they just looked weird, and those _teeth_! But admitting to his friend that he was afraid seemed even worse than facing his fears, so he went along, although he could not help protesting.

“Yes, but why?” Mario asked, manoeuvring his arm in weird shapes in an attempt to escape Marco’s grip.

 _Because I want to see your hot body rocking on one of those horses_ , Marco thought, but instead he said: “My sister is riding today. She is excited to meet you. I think you two will get along. If you just stop hating these animals.”

“I don’t...” Mario started but he changed his mind halfway through the sentence. “Never mind.”

The scent grew even stronger when they entered the stables. Mario stood in the doorway, watching the enormous amount of horse in this place, and slowly grew pale.

“Are you okay?” Marco asked, when he noticed the change. “Are you – _afraid_?”

Mario shook his head too quickly. Even more colour disappeared from his face when Marco stepped closer. “C’mon.”

A faint squeeze in his hand got Mario moving again. At safe distant from the stable doors, yet he passed all the horses and he looked at all them, surprised at their behaviour. They weren’t wild, galloping off or roaring. They didn’t even whinny at all. They just stood in their small place and ate hay carelessly. Some of them stared back at Mario as if they wanted to ask ‘what are you looking at, dude?’ Others stuck out their head and curiously tried to sniff at him, but he jumped out of the way. There were also horses that didn’t even care about their presence. Mario thought that was a nice idea.

“Have you seen any that you like?” Marco asked at the end of the hallway.

Mario, whose cheeks had finally turned his normal tan again, looked up in surprise, or even shock. “Have – what are you talking about?”

“I didn’t drive you all the way here just so you can stare at them. You’re going to ride,” he added to avoid misunderstanding.

“You were _serious_ about that?” Mario’s eyes grew even bigger. “I can’t... I’m not...”

Before he could finish his sentence he felt a gentle push in his back as they walked into a room that was half a cafeteria, half a gallery. It was separated from the riding arena by a window. A few women – probably mothers – were sitting there on uncomfortable chairs. Some were knitting, other reading, but truly they were all gossiping.

“This is my sister,” Marco said, pointing at a tall girl with long, blonde hair. She stood up the instant they walked in. “Melanie, this is Mario.”

They looked alike, Mario thought, except that Marco was more attractive. She was beautiful in the conventional way, but she had nothing special to Mario. No tattoos or wicked grins. He took her hand nonetheless as she said: “So you’re _the_ Mario?”

“Mel!” Marco shouted and when Mario turned around he could see his friend’s cheeks turn red. It looked charming on him.

“What? You’ve been talking about him endlessly for the last months.” She looked at her brother, who was desperately trying to make silent signs to her behind Mario’s back. “What does that even mean? Oh... oh, are you trying to tell me that I wasn’t supposed to say this?”

“God, Melanie, you’re so stupid,” Marco said, angrily walking out of the door.

“I’m sorry,” Melanie said to Mario when her younger brother had left. She seemed honest about it.

“It’s okay. You seem nice.” He smiled politely.

“Thank you,” she said confidently. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but do you have a girlfriend?”

“I’m not interested in you,” Mario said quickly.

“That wasn’t my question. I have a boyfriend.”

“I don’t.” Mario could feel the heat going up to his face. In the fifty seconds he had known her, she had only made him feel uncomfortable.

“You don’t have a boyfriend?”

“No, I...”

“And no girlfriend?”

“No!” Mario wanted to shout all kinds of things at her, but realised how inappropriate it would be to shout these words at someone he just met. When both stayed silent he realised that the other people in the room were following their conversation too.

“I... I’m going to check if Marco is alright.” It was a lame excuse, but good enough to leave.

“Sure thing.” She had a mischievous grin on her face when he left the door and Mario realised that she was trouble. He realised that the gossip behind the door would be picked up the moment he was gone, but he didn’t really care about those women.

He found Marco stroking a dark brown horse outside. It wasn’t a pony, that much was sure, but it wasn’t too big either. If he really had to climb a horse, this could be an option.

“Alright?” Mario asked, as he started petting the horse on the other side.

Marco jumped a little. “I didn’t hear you coming.” He waited a moment, but then he realised Mario was still waiting for an answer. “I’m okay. She becomes annoying when you’ve lived in the same house with her for seventeen years.”

Mario smiled, his hands running slowly along the horse’s nose. “I can imagine that.”

When Marco realised how calm his friend was in the presence of a horse, he looked up in surprise. Mario’s eyes were focussed on the horse’s and for a moment it seemed as if he had a connection with that horse. A connection that made Marco jealous as fuck.

“Do you want to ride her?”

Mario’s face changed to disgust. “God, Marco, how can you talk like that about your sister? That’s fucking dirty, I don’t want to... oh, you weren’t talking about her.”

Marco tried to restrain his laughter, but he failed and Mario hit him in the shoulder. “Fuck you.” The words had escaped his mouth before he could think about their meaning. “I mean...”

“I know what you mean,” Marco responded quickly. “Can you please forget everything Melanie said?”

There was something in his eyes, something desperate and frustrated, like he was begging him to forget everything, and at the same time he was begging him to remember it all.

“Sure,” Mario said, as if it were that easy. “Is this a female?” he asked, pointing at the horse.

Marco looked at him like he wanted to say ‘isn’t that obvious’. Then he added: “Her name is Sara.”

Mario looked down at the nameplate on the door and buried his face in his hands in shame. “I’m so stupid,” he mumbled through the holes between his fingers.

“You’re not,” Marco laughed, pulling his hands away. “C’mon, let’s get you both ready.”

Mario borrowed boots and a hat from the riding school and Marco clumsily helped him saddle up. Apparently Marco had made him an appointment for a private lesson, so when he was done, a woman came up to him and explained the basics of horse riding. How to spur her forward and how to slow her down, how to turn left and right. It all sounded way too easy to Mario. It wasn’t all that easy, Mario found out soon enough. Keep your heels down, your back straight, your thumb on the reins, little finger underneath them... _and don’t forget your back!_ It was all too much to remember at once.

Marco stood watching on the side as Mario stumbled while trying to get on Sara. He watched Mario looking scared at first but after a round or two, three, becoming comfortable on her back. He watched Mario smiling, enjoying this against all the odds, spurring Sara to a trot and all the while, he could not keep his eyes off Mario’s hips, that were rocking at pace and killing Marco. Sometimes, when they ran by, he could Mario’s hear breath and sometimes he was panting a bit. When he went back to walking, Mario smiled at him proudly and when he passed the next round, he whispered: “Am I doing alright?”

Marco could do nothing but reply: “You’re doing great.”

The lesson lasted one hour and Mario came down all tired and pink and sweaty afterwards, but he had the biggest smile on his face. “Thank you so much,” he said as he walked Sara back to her stable. Marco watched from the side again as Mario took off the saddle and the bridle, still in his euphoric state of happiness, of adrenaline rush. Marco knew the feeling well enough; he had never liked horses all that much, but one day his sister convinced him to try it once and the moment he sat on a horse, he felt amazing; as if he had become a better person in a matter of seconds. He knew you couldn’t bond with anyone that quick, human or horse, but he had felt a strong connection; as if in that moment, he and the horse had become one. And even when they weren’t, Marco felt great being part of something special, of such a small team.

Mario was glowing with that same sort of happiness. And Marco had to act like he didn’t want to scream when their hands touched, when he helped him with the throat lash; he had to pretend he didn’t look at Mario’s butt when he walked away with the saddle; he had to hide the excitement growing in his pants.

“Ready to go?” he asked, shifting uncomfortably, hiding behind a bale of straw.

Mario looked in Sara’s direction, hesitating. “Yeah. Sure.”

It had been such a master plan. Marco would take Mario to the stables and maybe even get him to ride and he could have laughed at it and maybe Mario would have looked really hot. But as they rode back to the city of Dortmund and Mario kept on talking about how amazing he had felt, Marco realised he had make a mistake.

They had both fallen; Mario had fallen desperately in love with horses, and Marco had fallen for Mario. Now his boner had to compete with a fucking _horse_. He could see it in Mario’s eyes, that were glowing with happiness and thankfulness. _Maybe,_ Marco thought, _this newfound passion for horses is the key to winning his heart, somehow._ He knew that he had made a mistake, but it was a beautiful mistake and he didn’t regret it.


End file.
